Episode 73: One Office in Collinsport

Wednesday, October 5, 1966

My name is Victoria Winters. Yesterday is alive in the great house on Widow’s Hill, and with it the memory of sudden death, a death that seems to center the attention of many people on one office in Collinsport.

Sam hesitates outside the sheriff’s office before going in to see George, who wonders what took him so long to “just be passing by and drop in.” 

He notes that Roger Collins and Burke Devlin dropped in on the spur of the moment just to chat too.

Liz is staring moodily out the window when she sees David. She says Vicki is looking for him. 

He was hoping Vicki quit or got fired when she never showed up to teach him today. Liz tells him Roger took Vicki to the cannery. She says that he’ll have to get used to the idea that Vicki will be his tutor for a long, long time.

“Even if I never get to like her?”

“You’ve never tried very hard.”

“You shouldn’t have to try. Either you like somebody or you don’t like them.”

“Well, it isn’t as simple as that. Particularly if you’re a little boy who finds it hard to like anyone.”

“But I like you.”

“That’s only one person.”

“I like Mr. Devlin. That makes two.”

“I don’t think I like the company you’re putting me in.”

“Why do you hate him so much, Aunt Elizabeth?”

Liz says she doesn’t hate him, but it’s difficult to explain. He says she’s treating him like a kid. Burke wouldn’t do that. He’d tell him about Mr. Malloy.

“If I told you he wasn’t to be trusted, would that make any difference?”

No, and he bets that’s what she told the sheriff. She probably told the sheriff Burke killed Mr. Malloy. “Burke is my friend, and he didn’t kill anyone!”

Sam wants to know if the finding will be accidental death. George wonders why he’s getting so worked up. The coroner is going to want to know about people’s attitude. Sam tries to backtrack. George assures him he’ll be in touch.

David tries to call Burke, but Liz catches him. David says he wanted to tell Burke that she and the sheriff think Burke killed Mr. Malloy. She said so in the other room. She says she said he wasn’t murdered, so how could she think Burke did it?

David said she keeps saying Bill wasn’t murdered because that’s how she wants it to come out. (He’s right about that.) She finally sends him to his room.

Then she calls the sheriff to check on the coroner’s report.

Sam visits Maggie at the restaurant. Of course, all she wants to talk about is the coroner’s report, which she does in a jocular manner. Sam wonders if she’s given any thought to her life after he’s gone. Serving coffee in a restaurant isn’t much of a future for a bright, attractive girl.

She heard a rumor that the coroner’s decision is going to be homicide. She thinks there are a couple of people in town who have more to worry about than Sam.

Roger calls Liz. They talk about the coroner’s report. David tries to sneak down the stairs. He says he wants to go for a walk and get some air. She sends him back upstairs but he comes back down and makes a run for it. (Run after him, Liz—you might catch him before he leaves the grounds!)

The sheriff arrives to tell Liz about the coroner’s decision, as he knows what good friends Liz and Bill were.

Accidental death due to drowning.

David shows up at the restaurant. (How did he get there that fast?) Maggie introduces David and Sam. Sam says he’d like to paint David someday. He has a great smile. (Does this make four people David likes?) David says he doesn’t have time to stay for ice cream and leaves.

Sam says if the coroner doesn’t rule homicide, Burke Devlin will go on a rampage, and he won’t stop until there’s nothing left—including the boy.

                    Cast, In Order of Appearance

Victoria Winters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alexandra Moltke

Sam Evans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Ford

Sheriff George Patterson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Dana Elcar

Elizabeth Collins Stoddard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joan Bennett

David Collins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  David Henesy

Maggie Evans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Kathryn Leigh Scott

Fashion by Ohrbach’s

Directed by John Sedwick

Story created and written by Art Wallace